Picked up the (2024) BYD Sealion 7 Performance for a weekend that included a stay at Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown. The Sealion 7 is Sime Darby Beyond Auto’s performance-oriented electric SUV, positioned above the brand’s Atto and Seal lines in the Malaysian lineup. The Performance variant tested here is the range-topping, all-wheel-drive configuration, distinct from the rear-wheel-drive Premium model that starts the range from RM183,800. Where the Premium is pitched as the more accessible, everyday option, the Performance trim is built around the idea that an electric SUV does not have to choose between usability and outright pace.
The Sealion 7 was designed under Wolfgang Egger, BYD’s global design director, who has described the model as a lifestyle statement rather than a conventional SUV. The exterior follows what BYD calls “Ocean X” styling — an X-shaped structure across the front fascia, paired with a low bonnet line and a fastback roof profile that tapers toward the rear. The name is not incidental; BYD’s design team has leaned on ocean and wave motifs across the Sealion 7, an idea that shows up again in the cabin.
At the back, water-drop-shaped LED elements run through the tail lamp cluster, a design detail intended to suggest motion even when the car is parked. The lighting signature carries through to the front, where double-U LED headlights bookend the fascia. Together, the front and rear lighting give the Sealion 7 a distinct silhouette after dark, something that stood out during an evening drive back from Genting when the tail lamps lit up in the rear-view mirrors of following traffic.
Practical touches accompany the styling. The tailgate opens with a foot gesture, useful when hands are full with shopping or luggage, and includes an anti-pinch system with adjustable stopping positions — a small feature that mattered more than expected when loading the boot in a multi-storey car park with a low ceiling. NFC keyless entry lets the phone double as a key card, removing the need to dig for a physical fob. The test unit rode on 19-inch alloy wheels, with the brochure listing a drag coefficient of 0.28 Cd, a figure BYD attributes to the SUV’s efficiency at highway speed and one of the lower figures in its class.
Four exterior colours are offered in Malaysia: Atlantis Grey, Shark Grey, Aurora White and Cosmos Black, all paired with a black interior trim.
The performance numbers trace back to BYD’s underpinnings rather than the bodywork alone. The Sealion 7 sits on the company’s e-Platform 3.0, which integrates the Blade Battery with an 8-in-1 electric powertrain that BYD says reaches 89 percent efficiency. The Performance variant pairs a front induction motor (160 kW, 310 Nm) with a rear permanent-magnet motor (230 kW, 380 Nm) for all-wheel drive, while the Premium variant makes do with a single rear motor and rear-wheel drive only.
Handling is managed through a double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension setup, with Frequency Selective Damping shock absorbers at both ends that adjust damping based on road input. BYD’s iTAC — Intelligent Torque Adaptation Control — distributes torque across the axles to reduce wheelspin, a system more commonly associated with performance cars than family SUVs. In practice, this showed up most clearly exiting a wet roundabout near Sungai Buloh, where the Sealion 7 put power down cleanly without the momentary hesitation some all-wheel-drive systems show when conditions change underfoot.
Battery capacity stands at 82.5 kWh, with BYD quoting an NEDC combined range of 542 km for the Performance variant and 567 km for the Premium — the shorter figure a trade-off for the added weight and power of the second motor. Over the weekend, covering a mix of city crawl, hill roads and highway running, indicated consumption tracked reasonably close to that combined figure, though as with any EV, harder driving and air-conditioning use in Malaysian heat pulled it down on the more spirited legs of the route.
The Blade Battery has also been put through BYD’s own nail-penetration and truck-rollover tests, cited in company materials as evidence of structural resilience, though independent verification of these claims was not part of this test. BYD says the battery supports more than 3,000 charge cycles, a figure aimed at addressing long-term degradation concerns that have followed EV batteries since the technology’s early years.
Where the spec sheet promises speed, the Sealion 7 Performance’s more useful trait over a weekend of ordinary driving was composure. Steering weight builds progressively rather than feeling artificially heavy from the outset, and the ride — helped by the adaptive dampers — stayed settled over the patched sections of road that are common on secondary routes outside the city, without the harshness that sometimes comes with performance-tuned suspension.
The 4.5-second century sprint is available on demand rather than intrusive; left in its default drive mode, the Sealion 7 behaves like any other electric SUV in traffic, with the sharper responses reserved for when the accelerator is pressed with intent. It is this dual character — quiet and manageable in daily use, genuinely quick when asked — that separates the Performance variant from being simply a Premium model with a bigger number on the spec sheet.
Part 2 of this series looks at the Sealion 7’s cabin, technology and safety systems, and what they mean for everyday use.
For more info, head over to https://byd.simemotors.my/models/byd-sealion-7.html
Drove the BYD Sealion 7 Performance over to Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown, home to ENSŌ Izakaya & Bar, which I visited before its official opening last year. I didn’t snap any interior photos of the establishment this round, as it was buzzing with patrons, but you can view the photos that I shot last year:
We were there to try its new Saturday Roaming Bar Brunch — a monthly residency that trades the familiar buffet line for an open kitchen, a three-hour free-flow bar and, on this particular Saturday, a table of strangers celebrating a birthday who did not stay strangers for long.
Make no mistake: this is a drinking brunch first, a dining one second. Ivon Soon, ENSŌ Izakaya & Bar’s resident mixologist and the 2025 Monkey Shoulder Malaysia Awards winner, moves table to table under ENSŌ’s Do-It-Yourself Cocktail programme, mixing drinks tailored to individual palates and inviting guests behind the bar to build their own. It is this interactive, roaming format — together with the food — that gives the brunch its personality, and its RM380+ free-flow package (also including house wines, beer and sake) is priced accordingly.
That is not to say the food is an afterthought. The sashimi and sushi bar, stocked with seafood flown in from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market, was the strongest part of the spread, with unlimited maguro, shake and kanpachi that arrived genuinely fresh. The oyster station was the other highlight, with a steady supply that rewarded going back for seconds. The rest of the menu — sushi rolls, yakitori off the binchōtan grill, and a wagyu sukiyaki — was competent rather than memorable, though that is arguably beside the point at a brunch built around its bar programme.
The setting does a lot of the work. Designed by GA Architects UK, ENSŌ’s dining room pairs a rustic, farmhouse-inspired layout with higher-end finishing, anchored by a centerpiece bar and open kitchen that puts the binchōtan grill and sashimi prep on display. It is a room built for lingering over three hours rather than one designed for a quick meal, and the pacing of the brunch — live stations, tableside cocktail service, an unhurried three-hour window — reflects that.
For value, this reads best as an occasion package rather than a straightforward meal out. At a neighbouring table, a group was celebrating a birthday, and being the extrovert that I am, I stopped by to wish the birthday girl and share a round of drinks before returning to the main table. That kind of easy mixing is part of the brunch’s design: cocktails kept moving between tables, conversation travelled with them, and the room had the loose, sociable feel of one long lunch rather than several separate ones. Groups celebrating birthdays or other milestones, or anyone looking for a long, sociable Saturday rather than a fast one, are the clearer fit here than diners who simply want a good Japanese meal, since the format is built around the drinking and the socialising rather than the food itself.
A brief exchange with Executive Japanese Chef Masami Okamoto, who runs the kitchen, added an unexpected note to the afternoon. Asked about his ikigai — a Japanese concept roughly meaning one’s reason for being — Okamoto said he tries to find enjoyment in his work, and in life more broadly, because that enjoyment carries through into the quality of what he cooks. It is a small philosophy, but one that tracked with the kitchen on display: unhurried, hands-on and clearly more interested in the process than in showmanship.
For consumers weighing whether to book, ENSŌ offers three ways in: the full RM380+ free-flow package with unlimited food and drink, and a RM190+ brunch-only option for those skipping alcohol. Premium add-ons — a 50g caviar tin at RM570, individual Japanese oysters at RM68 each, and Miyazaki wagyu at RM187 per 100g — are available for anyone looking to upgrade further. The brunch runs from noon to 3pm every second Saturday, with seating capped at 90 guests, so reservations are worth making ahead of time.
ENSŌ’s Roaming Bar Brunch delivers on the specific thing it sets out to do: turn brunch into a long, social, drink-led occasion, with genuinely good sashimi and oysters keeping the table fed between rounds.
We at timchew.net always encourage responsible drinking and never driving under the influence of alcohol/ substance or medication. The three-hour, free-flow Saturday brunch is not something to drive home from, so the Sealion 7 stayed parked in the hotel’s carpark for the night while I checked into an executive room at Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown. The stay, and a look at the hotel’s business-traveller offerings, will feature in Part 2 of this series.
ENSŌ Izakaya & Bar’s Saturday Roaming Bar Brunch runs every second Saturday from noon to 3pm at Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown. Reservations: KULRK-FB.Reservations@hyatt.com or +603 0931234.
Photos by the author using the vivo X300 Pro
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